page_title: Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock
section_title: The Jerome Commission
hierarchical_section_title: Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock / Background / The Jerome Commission
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of Lone Wolf the younger (c, 1843-1923, also Lone Wolf the Second, originally named Mamamy-day-te, Mamay-dat-ta or Mamadayte), converted to christianity in 1893 and member of the Elk Creek Baptist Church, tribal delegate in Washington and representer of his tribe in the opening of the reservation to homesteading in 1901.
context_page_description: Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock, 187 U.S. 553, was a United States Supreme Court case brought against the US government by the Kiowa chief Lone Wolf, who charged that Native American tribes under the Medicine Lodge Treaty had been defrauded of land by Congressional actions in violation of the treaty.
  The Court declared that the "plenary power" of the United States Congress gave it authority to abrogate treaty obligations between the United States and Native American tribes unilaterally. The decision marked a departure from the holdings of Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 30 U.S. 1, and Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515, which had shown greater respect for the autonomy of Native American tribes.
context_section_description: In 1892, the United States sent the Jerome Commission, consisting of David H. Jerome, Alfred M. Wilson, and Warren G. Sayre, to meet with the Kiowa to convince them to turn over most of their reserve for white settlement in return for $2 million. Lone Wolf spoke out in opposition to the allotment, saying:
  Now we have several good schools on the reservation, and to them we intend to send our children, where they will be taught the arts of manual labor. There they will learn to live like white people, and soon then they will be civilized. We advised our people to build houses, and quite a number of them today are living in houses. Some are building and still others are contemplating building. For that reason, because we are making such rapid progress, we ask the commission not to push us ahead too fast on the road we are to take. This morning in council the Comanches decided not to sell the country, and the Kiowas decided not to sell the country, and the Apaches decided not to sell the country. And I do not wish the commission to force us. That is all.
  After over a week of negotiations, terms were set so that each member would receive 160 acres. The tribes would receive $2 million of which $250,000 would be paid to members, with the remaining money to be held in trust for the tribes at 5% interest. The commission immediately began to collect signatures and, just as quickly, allegations of fraud arose. Joshua Givens, an interpreter, was widely suspected of being dishonest. He was accused of forcing some members to sign and tricking others into thinking they were signing a document opposing the agreement. By now, the tribes were almost unanimous in their opposition to the agreement, asked to see the document, and requested that their signatures be removed. Lone Wolf later stated that was refused and that they were threatened with violence. Jerome left the reservation with what the government claimed was the approval of three quarters of the tribe.
caption: Lone Wolf (the younger) in 1902, plaintiff
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